Museworthy: Hostage Sonnet
he lost his head because they
realised the scale of value: try
one white for one hundred blacks
and then further down, one hundred
blacks from here equals about a
thousand from there... “Go West, young
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The February 12 revelation that communications between Australian residents and the MV Tampa were spied upon has focused attention on the role of Australia's secret police agencies. Many people are uneasy at the thought that
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Who owns Palm Sunday? On February 11, for the second time in two weeks, I found myself excluded from a meeting of the Working Group to Stop War and Terrorism (the committee organising the 2002 Sydney Palm Sunday peace rally). I attended the
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BY KIM LINDEN& KATHY NEWNAM NEWCASTLE — When you're on your next holiday, spare a thought for the people cleaning your hotel room. Chances are that their pay and conditions are below those set out in the award, they are being bullied and harassed
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and ain't i a woman?: Bush attacks young people's sexual freedom Young people have sex — it's a social reality. Greater sexual freedom is a good thing, so long as it's based on free choice, without the moral pressure to have or not to have
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It's now common knowledge: the federal Coalition government lied to win the November 10 election. Prime Minister John Howard and his ministers continued to maintain, long after they knew it wasn't true, that in October some
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— The royal commission into the building industry has returned to Melbourne amid a barrage of controversy. There have been sensational allegations about breaches of its security and lack of independence. Unions have continued to
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Refugees' campaign builds in Rockhampton ROCKHAMPTON — Forty people gathered on February 15 to greet the Freedom Bus that has been visiting refugee detention centres across Australia. The meeting also launched the Rockhampton Rural
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BY SARAH STEPHEN& JOHN GAUCI CANBERRA — "If international law was to have penalties, and if Woomera detention centre was to be a receptacle for those who breached [it], our prime minister and immigration minister would be behind the razor wire",
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Barns: "prejudice" claims proven HOBART — Disendorsed Liberal candidate Greg Barns appealed to the Liberal Party on February 14 to have his disendorsement overturned. Barns had accused the Howard government of playing the "fear and prejudice
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Argentina is undergoing a transformation, into something rare in Latin America — a beacon of hope that offers a different choice to the only one normally offered by corporate globalisation: submit. Argentina isn't an "ordinary"
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BY JUDE McCULLOCH & DAMIEN LAWSON It is 30 years since Bloody Sunday, when British paratroopers, suppressing a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland, opened fire and killed 14 unarmed civilians — half of them teenagers. Though these
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MELBOURNE — As thousands travelled to Canberra to protest the government's inhumane refugee policies, solidarity protests also occurred across Australia on February 12. Four hundred people gathered outside immigration
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Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Phone 9565 5522. Visit <;
News
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ADELAIDE — Despite an (unofficial) election campaign that had dragged on for nearly six months, on the night before polling day in the South Australian elections, 10% of voters had not decided who they would vote for. This was
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If you have received a letter from the NSW State Electoral Office in the last six weeks requesting confirmation of your membership of Socialist Alliance, please reply NOW! To succeed, the alliance's application for electoral registration in NSW
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GEELONG — Production workers at the Godfrey Hirst carpet factory are one of the first groups of workers in the country to win a trust fund that guarantees all their entitlements if the company goes bankrupt. The Manusafe
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BRISBANE — On February 15, 30 people attended a high school action demanding freedom for refugees. Although the action was small, it was an important show of defiance for students who have faced intense harassment at
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MELBOURNE — The Socialist Alliance is fielding candidates in four wards in the Darebin City Council election in Melbourne's north-east. The alliance's platform demands that Darebin City be made a haven for refugees, that Merri
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KATOOMBA — Five hundred Blue Mountains residents took to the streets on February 15 to protest the Coalition government's treatment of refugees. Organised by local activists, the theme "Take a stand — free the refugees"
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WOLLONGONG — Residents of Sandon Point, near Thirroul, the controversial site of a proposed upmarket housing development by Stocklands Constructions, were woken by the roar of bulldozers at 5am on February 12. Immediately "phone
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SYDNEY — M1 2002 is up and running. On February 14, activists met to begin planning May 1 actions which will include protests across the city in the morning, a "unity rally" at midday in Martin Place and a festival or street party
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SYDNEY — More than 100 high school students walked out of classrooms on February 15 to voice their opposition to the Coalition government's inhumane treatment of refugees. The Resistance-organised protest commenced in Hyde Park to
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SYDNEY — Since his meteoric rise to cabinet five months ago, the NSW Labor government's minister for police Michael Costa has implemented a series of initiatives that will send more people to jail. One of his more subtle changes
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"I feel ashamed to be Australian", is the most frequently appearing comment on the online petition calling for a royal commission into the Australian government's treatment of refugees. More than 7000 people have signed on to the
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CANBERRA — Socialist Alliance members held a 30-hour hunger strike, beginning on February 11, to publicise the February 12 refugees' rights convergence at Parliament House. The action was reported by the local WIN and ABC
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HOBART — Dozens of activists are maintaining a "Weld River community picket". The blockade, which entered its 12th day on February 15, has stopped work on a forestry road and bridge into the Weld Valley in southern Tasmania.
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MELBOURNE — The metalworkers at Tiemans couldn't remember the last time they had been on strike. The older ones had hazy memories of the 35-hour week campaign 21 years ago. But on February 1, when the boss sacked three young workers
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The Ronald Reagan defence "I have no memory of that." — Former defence minister Peter Reith commenting on Prime Menzies John Howard's claim that he had asked Reith on November 7 if the claims made by government ministers a month earlier about
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BRISBANE — Premier Peter Beattie's February 12 media statement, entitled "50 reasons not to protest this years' Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting" (CHOGM) is a deceptive attempt to prevent people from joining the March
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Lord Mayor campaign launched DARWIN — Members and supporters of Socialist Alliance gathered in the Resistance Bookshop on February 13 to launch the campaign for Lord Mayor. The candidate, Ruth Ratcliffe, told those assembled that, “now, more
Analysis
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According to a Melbourne Age poll, conducted by AC Nielson last August and September, Prime Minister John Howard's government enjoyed 71% support for its policy of mandatory detention of asylum seekers who arrive without permission. However, a
World
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PHNOM PENH — In a surprise move on February 8, the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) announced its withdrawal from negotiations to establish a mixed Cambodian-international tribunal to try surviving leaders of the Khmer
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JERUSALEM — Some weeks ago, something curious happened: Israel discovered that Iran is the Great Satan. It happened quite suddenly. There was no prior sensational news, no new discovery. As if by the order of a drill-sergeant, the
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PORT LOUIS — The government of Mauritius has passed very repressive legislation, supposedly to "curb terrorism". The laws passed on February 4, only four days after they were made public. The laws provide for the denial of bail
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CHICAGO — In his State of the Union address, President George Bush piously declared that "America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity" — including "respect for women". But in the two weeks
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"It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Doesn't he know how her government treats the people, not just in Aceh, but
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TEL AVIV — Around 10,000 people rallied here on February 9 to back the growing numbers of Israeli reserve soldiers who are refusing to serve in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. A year ago, at a rally called by much the same peace and human
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On February 9, "terms of reference" for the "Balikatan" US-Philippines war "exercises" were agreed on by US and Philippines military officials. The 660 US troops, including 120 US special forces commandos, will be allowed to
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SAN FRANCISCO — President George Bush's "war on terrorism" is leading to some complex and contradictory reactions among African Americans. Like an overwhelming majority of Americans, blacks reacted to the heinous crime of
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PORTO ALEGRE — The second World Social Forum occurred at an important time in Brazilian politics. On January 19 Celso Daniel, mayor of Santo Andre in Sao Paulo state, was found murdered. Daniel is the second mayor belonging to the
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intro = PORTO ALEGRE — For a second year, the World Social Forum (held January 31 to February 5) attracted an incredible range of social movements, labour unions and political groups from all over the world. The spirit of
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HARARE — The Zimbabwe government's repression against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change and other activists continues as the March 9-10 presidential election nears. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his ruling
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US forces in Afghanistan continue to inflict deaths and injuries on civilians, long after US air power has driven the Taliban regime from power and scattered its al Qaeda allies to the four winds. The latest slaughter occurred on
Culture
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[To the tune of "The Time Warp" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.] It's astounding, how prejudice is growingand xenophobia takes its tollListen closely for it's about time you did soRacism is taking controlIt's just a jump to the rightAnd then a
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LumumbaDirected by Raoul PeckWith Eriq Ebouaney, Maka KottoScreening at Valhalla and Chauvel Cinemas, Sydney, and Lumiere Cinema, Melbourne REVIEW BY NICK EVERETT Lumumba ends as the film begins, with a heart-wrenching dramatisation of the brutal
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Black Hawk Down, the first of the wave of patriotic US war and action movies being rushed to the screens following the September 11 incidents, opens across Australia on February 21. The film's Pentagon advisers hope that Black
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An Indelible StainBy Henry ReynoldsViking Press, 2001209 pages, $27In the introduction to An Indelible Stain?, historian Henry Reynolds predicts that after reading that book, "many people will seek more definite answers, firmer